Scholars At Risk Call on releasing retained Belarusian students
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Scholart At Risk published an appeal to Belarusian authorities to release detained student and stop pressure on academical community. Here we publish part of the letter:
Culture and Education committee condemns repressions against students and teachers in Belarus
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News and Events
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On International Students Day the EP Education committee urges the EU universities to help Belarusian students who face persecution to pursue their studies.
By pointing to the academic freedom as core principle of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), MEPs of EP’s Culture and Education committee call to urgently address the crackdowns on Belarus university students during the upcoming EHEA Ministerial Conference on 19th November.
“We condemn the repression against students and teachers. We stand behind the persecuted students and stand for academic freedom in Belarus”, said EP Culture and Education committee chair Sabine Verheyen (EPP, DE) on Tuesday.
Culture and Education MEPs also called on all EU universities to help those Belarusian students facing persecution to pursue their studies.
Background
The peaceful participation of students in the pro-democracy movement in Belarus has led to threats of expulsion or conscription into the military. The Belarusian Students Association (ZBS) has recorded the detention of 374 students since September, with 80 sentenced to a total of 953 days of administrative arrest, and 54 fined an average of 120 EUR each ‑ almost five times the value of a monthly academic scholarship in the country.
The European Higher Education Area, coordinated by the EU Commission, includes the EU member states and other (altogether 48) countries who have subscribed to the Bologna Process, with Belarus among them. See the members here.
On International Students Day the EP Education committee urges the EU universities to help Belarusian students who face persecution to pursue their studies.
By pointing to the academic freedom as core principle of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), MEPs of EP’s Culture and Education committee call to urgently address the crackdowns on Belarus university students during the upcoming EHEA Ministerial Conference on 19th November.
“We condemn the repression against students and teachers. We stand behind the persecuted students and stand for academic freedom in Belarus”, said EP Culture and Education committee chair Sabine Verheyen (EPP, DE) on Tuesday.
Culture and Education MEPs also called on all EU universities to help those Belarusian students facing persecution to pursue their studies.
Background
The peaceful participation of students in the pro-democracy movement in Belarus has led to threats of expulsion or conscription into the military. The Belarusian Students Association (ZBS) has recorded the detention of 374 students since September, with 80 sentenced to a total of 953 days of administrative arrest, and 54 fined an average of 120 EUR each ‑ almost five times the value of a monthly academic scholarship in the country.
The European Higher Education Area, coordinated by the EU Commission, includes the EU member states and other (altogether 48) countries who have subscribed to the Bologna Process, with Belarus among them. See the members here.
Report to the BFUG Board on progress in EHEA implementation by Belarus
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News and Events
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BFUG Board have accepted a Note on situation in Belarus
We'll cite the Final Considerations:
At the beginning of September 2020, and thus what would have been well past the date for the ‘Rome’ Ministerial Conference if the pandemic had not forced postponement, it is appropriate to formulate an overall evaluation of progress with regard to Belarus and its achievement since 2015.
A careful comparison of the Roadmap, the implementation reports for 2018 and 2019, and the action plans for 2018, 2019 and 2020, indicate that the process of implementation has been significantly slower than planned and agreed, but that progress has been and is being made.
SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITIES: EDUCATION POLICY DEFORMATIONS
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SUMMARY
A fundamental defect of state education policy–the increasing social inequality in terms of access to quality education and, consequently, poor career perspectives – clearly manifested itself in 2019. The leadership of the ‘social welfare state’, including the Ministry of Education, chose to ignore this challenge.
The Ministry of Education defiantly excludes the social dimension from its strategies. At the same time, abandoning the inclusion policy, the ministry does not make decisive efforts to ensure high quality of secondary and tertiary education. Instead, it manipulates with the quality control tools, engages in political illusionism and pushes other stakeholders out of formal education.
In 2019, the Ministry of Education neutralized the attempts of the IT sector to steamroll vocational education reform and implemented a conservative strategy to minimize obligations to foreign donors.
SUMMARY
A fundamental defect of state education policy–the increasing social inequality in terms of access to quality education and, consequently, poor career perspectives – clearly manifested itself in 2019. The leadership of the ‘social welfare state’, including the Ministry of Education, chose to ignore this challenge.
The Ministry of Education defiantly excludes the social dimension from its strategies. At the same time, abandoning the inclusion policy, the ministry does not make decisive efforts to ensure high quality of secondary and tertiary education. Instead, it manipulates with the quality control tools, engages in political illusionism and pushes other stakeholders out of formal education.
In 2019, the Ministry of Education neutralized the attempts of the IT sector to steamroll vocational education reform and implemented a conservative strategy to minimize obligations to foreign donors.
COMMENTS ON THE NATIONAL REPORT OF THE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS ON THE PROVISIONS OF THE STRATEGY FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MAJOR OBJECTIVES OF THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT IN LINE WITH THE EHEA PRINCIPLES AND TOOLS IMPLEMENTED IN 2019 AND THE WORK PLAN
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Research and Analytics
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The National report is available by the link.
Prepared by the Belarusian Independent Bologna Committee, the Ad Hoc Committee of the Belarusian National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum, the Belarusian Student Association and the Youth Labour Rights
1. Qualifications Framework.
Despite the fact that the Report says about successful completion of the stage of work on the National Qualifications Framework for Higher Education (HE NQF - BelQF) and the approval of the project by Minister of Education, we would like to draw attention to a very formal approach to such a serious document development:
- the status of the document is questionable, it is not even approved by Order (or Resolution), but by a simple stroke of the pen of Minister of Education, and, of course, the Minister himself proclaims his ministry as the "Republican body ... which carries out the development and management of the BelQF ..." which violates the procedural order and legislative requirements of the adoption and approval of national level documents;
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